[ SECRET POST #1950 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1950 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 06 pages, 122 secrets from Secret Submission Post #279.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ], [ 2 - spambots ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[antialiasis.livejournal.com]

The common attitude here that giving concrit is horribly rude if the author doesn't expressly solicit it really weirds me out. Perhaps because I've spent most of my fandom life hanging out in places where flipping out at concrit (provided it doesn't feature personal insults) is generally seen as something people do when they're new, young and immature and are expected to grow out of, and even authors who do in fact whine about perfectly polite concrit will pay lip service to the importance of taking concrit in stride in discussions.

Personally, I think I'd go insane if I knew every time I posted my work that even if it were terrible nobody would dare tell me so. What does it even mean to get praise if people will give you praise even if they thought many aspects were lacking? The most meaningfully ego-boosting reviews I've ever gotten were from people who'd torn my work apart before, because then I knew they wouldn't be saying that unless I really had gotten something right.

[(Anonymous)]

No. The common attitude here is

1. that giving any old "concrit" regardless of whether the "concrit" is good or valid or not, then expecting the author to be grateful, is ridiculous. The problem with a lot of concrit givers is that they expect to be listened to and thanked for their time and personal opinions when nobody asked it of them.

2. that being flaming mad at somebody dropping random concrit on you is also ridiculous. The problem with a lot of concrit receivers is that they take it as some kind of personal attack.

If you're not a party guilty of either of the above two things, you're fine.

[antialiasis.livejournal.com]

By "here" I didn't mean this comment thread in particular, where as it turns out people are largely taking the (perfectly sensible) view you summarized, but more fandomsecrets in general. In the past couple of months there have been several secrets regarding concrit and in their comments there has been a lot of "Giving concrit when the author doesn't ask for it is just being an ass, jeez." Or at least that was my impression when I read through them; I admit they may have been a minority that just stood out because of the cultural dissonance.

Either way I didn't say that as a jab at the people here or something and I'm sorry if you took it that way. I see how my comment could be read as passive-aggressively suggesting everyone here just needs to grow up and be like my fandom communities, but that wasn't my intention; I was mostly just musing at how different, separated fandom cultures can lead to completely different prevailing views on issues like this. In my particular corner of my particular fandom, people actually generally are expected to be grateful for well-intentioned concrit, even if it's misguided; they can disagree and say so, but it is seen as very rude to react with irritation and utter dismissal or be annoyed at the suggestion they should change something. It's not that individual reviewers are considering themselves entitled to something, but that the general community rules, both explicit and unspoken, say writers should respect their reviewers even if they're negative and even if they disagree (so long as the reviewer was reasonably polite and constructive about it).

That's just how the culture evolved there, but it's way different from the prevailing culture here, which makes it a really alien experience for me to see these discussions where the general view of concrit is completely different from my "native" fandom culture. That, and the general idea that there are different cultures where these things are concerned, was the point I was trying to make.

[citrinesunset.livejournal.com]

For me, it's like any unsolicited advice. Sometimes it works and is appropriate, sometimes it can be weird.

I don't think giving unsolicited concrit is rude unless the person is going against the author's stated wishes or is just being a jerk about it. But I guess I find it a little odd that unsolicited concrit on writing is considered normal when you wouldn't necessarily critique, say, someone's knitting or piano playing unless you were teaching them.

But I also think I see a difference between people giving concrit and people being honest. I've had people tell me that something didn't quite work for them in a fic, and I guess I didn't really see that as "concrit" because I didn't get the feeling like they were trying to give me advice. It was just a polite but honest reaction.